Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Question from Blog reader:
Chris, I am having a voice problem and need your input. I’ve been using your training CD’s for a few years now and they have helped me a lot. But, here’s my problem: When I first start a song I feel short of breath. My voice feels unstable. After a few words it gets better, but I still have a problem with my voice breaking or quivering. It’s not solid, or stable. Is this a throat problem, breathing or ??? Your comments would be greatly appreciated.
Vocal Coach Answer:
When a voice is unstable, wavering, tentative or breaks and quivers there are several possible causes. Here are some likely ones and some solutions
1. Anxiety. When you are mentally or emotionally unsure about what is going to come out when you open your mouth it can interfere with breathing, posture, diction, tone, expression . . . everything. The solution will be found in being more mechanically solid than you are anxious. In other words, having such secure technique in the posture, breathing, tone and diction that nothing can interfere. Solid muscle memory, of right techniques will be your friend every time.
2. Posture. If your posture is bent or broken it will interfere with breathing, tone and self-confidence and how the listener perceives your confidence. By lifting your arms straight up over your head you will discover your balanced posture. As you slowly bring your arms back down be sure to maintain the upright alignment. The shoulders should be completely relaxed, not pulled up or back. The feeling is one of being “athletically alert,” with a comfortably upright chest. Feel like you have a long back of neck and a shorter front of the neck. The head is back, over the shoulders, with the eyes looking straight ahead. Don’t let the chin lift for high notes or fall for low notes. Keep the head position neutral. Once you can sing your songs comfortably in this position you can look anywhere you want. Just don’t move the head to help you hit a note; it won’t.
3. Breathing. Securing good breath management will help you sing through the nervous times. The muscles will just continue to get you the right amount of breath. Not too much; not too little. Good breathing starts with good posture. A good first exercise is to get on your back, on the floor and feel what parts of the body are naturally engaged when you breathe in, and out. Then start sipping the breath in through an imaginary straw, and out on a SSSSSSS sound. After you have memorized where the breathing is naturally felt, stand, check your posture and repeat the exercise with a still chest and ribs.
4. Tone. Getting your posture and breathing more secure opens the possibility for your best vocal sound, or tone quality. The physical sensations of good tone are a relaxed throat, and lots of buzzing resonance (harmonics and overtones) vibrating through the face, mouth, sinuses and nasal passages. These are all sensations that you can physically feel, memorize and reproduce. A gentle hum will begin the sensation. Adding a chewing motion to the humming will keep the face and jaw more relaxed. And, don’t be afraid of all the vibrating you feel in the face. That’s a good sign, and means you are allowing the voice to work and not forcing it. These are aspects of your vocal sound you can “feel,” and that means you can reproduce them using muscle memory.
5. Diction. Another important area is diction, pronunciation or enunciation. It just means that the listener gets the message, not just the music. The other bonus of clear diction is this: As your own ears hear clear words coming out they tell the brain to tell the larynx to just relax and keep giving the pitch. If, on the other hand, your ears hear mumbled words they often tell the brain, and the brain (for some unknown reason) gets the larynx involved. That just leads to useless tension in the throat since the larynx can’t help diction. So, when in doubt, over-pronounce a bit so that even the least attentive listener hears your message.
So, there you have it. A systematic approach, to freeing up an unstable voice by paying attention to your POSTURE, BREATHING, TONE and DICTION. Needless to say, there’s a lot more to be said on all these topics. If you want to go deeper, with principles and exercises just go to the main site at vocalcoach.com and look for the Vocal Coach Singer package, or individual subjects by title.
If you have thoughts or comments leave them in the space below. Thanks.
Tags: breathing technique for singers, chris beatty, chris beatty vocalcoach.com, larynx, performance training, Singer, singing lessons, vocalcoach.com, voice lessons, voice training
Posted in Ask the Coach, Breathing, Choir Directors, Diction, Duets to Groups, From the Coach, Performance, Posture, Singing Subjects, Tone, Voice Fatigue and Strain, Worship Team | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
By way of introduction: There are several categories of Vocal Coach Blogs. First, the purely technical, dealing with the mechanics of singing. Second, personal thoughts from Carole, called “Carole Cares.” And, third, those written for anyone who functions in a place of ministry within the Church whether choir director or member, worship team member and those in the congregation who want to give their best. This blog is from that third category, and will also be posted under the “Enhancing Your Worship” tab on the site.
In addition to training singers and speakers around the world for a number of decades, I have also had the opportunity to lead worship in a number of different settings, large and small, in the U.S. and abroad. From those experiences, and triggered by a recent message from my own pastor, I share this thought: I believe you can accomplish more meaningful interaction with God in 10 minutes of inner stillness than an hour of desperate, distraction-filled seeking. And, that’s a good thing for every aspect of your life.
For those who worship, from the congregation or the platform, there is a necessary skill to master that has nothing to do with music. That is the skill of cultivating an inner stillness.
Inner stillness is a place of tranquility and quietness of the mind and emotions. A place where there is no competition for your attention and God can get right through to you, and you to Him. This is where the connection, correction, adjustments and inspiration take place. Then, and only then can you be sure you are prepared at the foundational level to lead others to the cross.
Inner Stillness can only be found by deliberate actions. It doesn’t just happen because you want it to. It doesn’t always happen quickly, and you can’t pay for it with a credit card and there’s no download available. Here are some tools that can help you find this life-giving place:
1. Desire. You must acknowledge the need and value of inner stillness in your life.
2. Planned schedule. You must practice getting there and staying there. After awhile you will get there more quickly.
3. Set the physical stage. Get quiet. Get comfortable. Surround yourself with only those tools that will help the process like your bible, and a notebook.
4. Pray that your body, soul and spirit will rest in the arms of the King and be still.
5. Drive out mental and emotional concerns by replacing them with Scripture, leaving no room for distractions. They will return quickly enough.
Only after you have gotten to that place of inner stillness will you have something life-giving to share. Only then, when your spiritual ears are open, can you hear the fresh and new and then give it away to others.
That means you’re human, and subject to a multitude of distractions. After all, we do live in a multi-tasking, always-something-going-on world. That, of course, is the very reason we need to spend time in the inner stillness. Without it we tend to only take in and reflect what the world has to offer; not what the Lord has to offer, and that can be dangerous and very, very limiting in every area of your life.
There’s a real feeling of victory when you are able to push “Pause” on business-as-usual. Once you have experienced that you can graduate to the “Stop” button, and then you’re really there. . . in that place of stillness.
What helps you find your inner stillness? I would love hear your thoughts in the comments section.
Tags: chris beatty vocalcoach.com, finding peace., singing lessons, vocal coach, vocal teacher, worship leader
Posted in Choir Directors, Duets to Groups, From the Coach, Kids and Teens, Soloist, Teaching Teens To Sing, Tips Tailored for You, Uncategorized, Worship Team | 4 Comments »